In 1974, wealthy Californians Mac and Muff Graham sailed to Palmyra Island, 1000 miles south of Hawaii, in their boat the Sea Wind . Buck Walker and Jennifer Jenkins arrived soon after on the same atoll, fleeing drug charges in Hawaii. Several months later, Walker and Jenkins returned to Hawaii in the Sea Wind , claiming that the Grahams were presumed dead when the dinghy in which they had gone fishing was washed ashore unmanned. However, in 1980, vacationers on Palmyra found bones soon identified as those of Muff Graham, who was determined to have been shot. Walker and Jenkins were charged with murder: in separate San Francisco trials, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and she was acquitted. Writing with Henderson ( Empire of Deceit) , Bugliosi ( Helter Skelter ), who served as Jenkins's attorney, offers a case history which could have been a true-crime classic if not for the 250 tedious pages devoted to his client's 23-day trial. Photos not seen by PW. Literary Guild main selection. (Jan.)